Actress Keira Knightley rules out sex scenes directed by men

Top British actress Keira Knightley has said that she will not appear in nude scenes for films that have a male director.

Speaking to the Chanel Connects podcast, the actress said: "I don't have an absolute ban [on filming nude scenes], but I kind of do with men. "It's partly vanity and also it's the male gaze," the 35-year-old explained.

The topic of how actors are treated while filming sex scenes has been put in the spotlight in recent years, particularly since the MeToo movement. Many studios now hire intimacy coordinators to oversee sex scenes and ensure actors feel comfortable and are treated respectfully during shooting.

Knightley has previously revealed she has had a "no nudity clause" added to her film contracts since becoming a mother in 2015.

During the interview, Knightley also said she felt strongly that she would want to work with a female director if a film focused on female life experiences. "If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body [acceptance], I feel like, I'm sorry, but that would have to be with a female film-maker," she said.

"If it was about motherhood, about how extraordinary that body is, about how suddenly you're looking at this body that you've got to know and is your own and it's seen in a completely different way and it's changed in ways which are unfathomable to you before you become a mother, then yeah, I would totally be up for exploring that with a woman who would understand that.

"But I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze."

Knightley said she appreciated the need for certain films to feature nude scenes. The actress said: "I don't want it to be those horrible sex scenes where you're all greased up and everybody is grunting. I'm not interested in doing that.

"Saying that, there's times where I go, 'Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot', so therefore you can use somebody else.

"Because I'm too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I'd just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked."

Knightley has starred in films including Bend It Like Beckham, Atonement and Pirates of the Caribbean. Last year, she appeared in Misbehaviour, a comedy-drama about the women's liberation movement in 1970s London.

The actress has previously said she banned her daughter from watching Disney films which portrayed women in ways she disagreed with.